Visit at Jotun’s factory

On November 27th, a group of our participants was invited to Jotun’s factory in Itaboraí. Jotun is one of our founders and we are grateful to catch up with the Norwegian group again.

Twelve years ago, Jotun was one of the companies that were willing to help when Erik Solheim—then Norwegian Minister of Development—challenged Norwegian corporations here in Rio de Janeiro to foster social change. The result was Dream Learn Work; the goal was (and continues to be) to address the lack of skilled labour and, at the same time, to create social impact, changing young lives for the better. Since then, we have lost contact with Jotun—but in 2018 we got in touch again and this visit was the first activity.

Nathalie, a Junior HR employee, organized a great event where our group got to visit different parts of the factory with other employees. They held presentations about various working areas that they have in their department in Itaboraí.

One of the big happenings during the event was Maria’s (a responsible chef at the company) presentation. From Monday to Friday she prepares food for almost 40 employees, which includes logistics, nutritional planning, cooking and making sure her team is following the hygiene rules. Maria told us about her story on how she got to Jotun, and our participants identified a lot with her. When she was 12 years old, she started working for a family as a housekeeper that needed to make food as well. She had never even cooked rice, but she said she would be able to do the job. It seemed like she had a talent and, since then, she has never stopped cooking and developing herself. She now holds a diploma as a professional chef from the Estácio University, in Rio de Janeiro, and is a proud employee at Jotun.

Thank you, Jotun, for welcoming us and for the great event, and especially thanks to Nathalia for organizing everything and receiving us so well! These events are crucial for our participants’ view on the labour market and for them to inspire and meet other professionals.

If you or your company want to receive Dream Learn Work like Jotun, please send an e-mail to jeanette@dreamlearnwork.com